The Janitor of Hogwarts
Chapter Four
Just a little note: yeaaaaaah. It's been a while since I've updated. Sorry. x-x But I'm working like really damn fast to try to get what I've got revised and updated (all the way to chapter 18) so yeah. Yaay.
Somewhere cold and brightly lit, and a bit damp thanks to Severus' lack of plumbing skills.
"TEAVA. IT'S FUCKING TEAVA YOU MORON! TEAVA!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO! YOU LIEEEE!"
"TEAAAAVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"I always knew you were a screamer, Severus."
Severus Snape had continued his attempts to teach poor Teava to say her name when asked for it. Apparently, his endeavors were entirely futile, and he was beginning to think Teava was either extremely stupid, or taking great pleasure in messing with his head. Either way, they were both worn out from screaming continually at each other.
The appearance of Lucius Malfoy had startled (and relieved) them both. Severus had even managed to fall out of his chair, the only one furnishing his small living area.
Teava was already situated on the floor, cowering behind the coffee table in tears. Lucius rolled his eyes at the sight. When Voldemort had explained to him what the yelling that could be heard all throughout the Death Eater HQ was, he had been completely exasperated. The man had not gone to all the trouble of killing the aurors who had captured that idiot Amycus and kidnapping the only muggle witness just so Severus could render her deaf. She was going to be very valuable to them in the future, damnit.
Crouching down, he patted the girl on her trembling back, smiling in what he hoped was a friendly manner. It was sort of painful on his part.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked kindly, rubbing her back. Tea sniffled, looking up at him with big, watery eyes that made him want to take a blowtorch to her face. He was able to keep these thoughts of his from showing on his face, though.
"Teava." She sniffed dramatically several times afterwards, for effect.
"DA FUCK?" Severus growled, throwing flaming batons at the janitor-in-training with a mere glance. He looked back and forth between the two as he slowly got to his feet. "How..?"
Malfoy shrugged, and said simply, "You need to work on your people skills."
Several hours later, under the guidance of Lucius and the disbelieving stare of Severus, Teava was able to recite her full name, the alphabet, and cell phone number.
"I'm so proud of you!" Lucius gushed, clasping Teava in a tight hug while tears streamed down his face in an almost comical way. She hugged back, sobbing as well. Both were completely exhausted, and all sense of character had diminished over the hours spent in the potion master's dark and poorly furnished room.
Severus sat in his chair pouting, his right eye twitching spastically. He was trying to appear as if he were occupied with a thick book over deadly plants, which was silly, because the two other people in the room hadn't even noticed his presence for the better half of the 'lesson' as it was. His creepy glare landed on Lucius, who was now sniffling into an expensive looking handkerchief. "I hate that stupid feminine whore," the grumpy potions master muttered, turning back to his book with no real intention of reading it.
Suddenly, the door flew open, revealing an exceptionally hyper Mervin. He scampered in, making his way towards the drama queens who had finally managed to get a hold of themselves. In the moments Mervin spent dancing around excitedly, which was kind of a scary sight considering he had eight legs to dance on, they picked themselves up off the floor, waiting in silence for him to stop.
He finally managed to say, breathlessly, "GOOD NEWS! Dumbledore recently had a brain transplant with some muggle named Gorge Dubya? I think that's it. They're saying he's gone completely daft, so it'll probably be easy to sneak Tea into the school and then into the tryouts."
"Yay," everyone cheered in a monotone, looking at him expectantly.
Mervin's face dropped, as he continued with his news. "Uhm, apparently he's convinced the Ministry of Magic to drop what they're calling a "nuke" on your mansion, Malfoy."
"MY PRECIOUS!" Lucius screamed, causing Severus to fall out of his chair once again. He streamed out of the room, still screaming inane things. The others just stood, or sat in Snape's case, in silence.
They blinked in unison.
"Right," Mervin muttered. He turned to Teava. "So are you ready?"
The muggle girl looked down at her feet, appearing thoughtful, and then managed to say, "Potatoes?"
